NMRA Ohio: Horsepower Homecoming

MM&FF’s True Street returns to its birthplace

The move of NMRA's June event to Summit Motorsport Park in Norwalk, Ohio marks the return of the very first MM&FF True Street event, which took place at the popular strip 20 years ago. The brainchild of MM&FF way back in 1993, The True Street Challenge pitted street-legal Mustangs against each other in a unique street/track event encompassing a 50-mile road tour and three consecutive passes (without altering the car) to determine the winner.

Fast forward 20 years and the popularity of this everyman's class hasn't diminished, not one bit. The rules and format were simple. You can't raise the hood or refuel. But they now allow any Ford vehicle with Ford power, and the road drive has been tightened to 30 miles to save time.

If anything, the action is better than ever. Amazingly, the class is still a screaming success, as over 110 Ford fanatics participated in Norwalk!

Additionally, the Norwalk event also featured ground-pounding Afco Outlaw, Edelbrock Renegade, Strange Engineering Coyote Stock, the Granatelli 5.0 Shootout, and the other NMRA bracket and index classes—not to mention the UPR car show, the huge manufacturer's midway and swap meet, plus Summit Motorsport Park's famous $1-per-pound ice cream (yes, that is correct), which we took advantage of (multiple times).

"For many years our racers and fans hoped that NMRA would be able to one day host an event at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio," said Steve Wolcott, NMRA co-founder. "We were blown away with the incredible racer support and car show participation at this event, which will definitely continue to grow in the future. True Street was off the hook with 92 guy racers and 20 female racers competing in their own class in hopes of securing a spot in the All-Female Shootout. NMRA appreciates the special support from MM&FF with its 25th anniversary celebration and participation with True Street and the All-Female Shootout," he added.

For the first time ever, we collaborated with Royal Purple and the NMRA to put on an All-Female Shootout, open to any female who entered True Street. Like the Spring Break Shootout, we used True Street qualifying to set the field, and took the eight quickest female racers, who then competed heads-up during Sunday's show. In addition, we awarded separate True Street prizes to the top females at each e.t. break.

"The NMRA Ford Nationals made tremendous strides toward rekindling the spirit and tradition of Ford Racing at Summit Motorsports Park," said track owner Bill Bader. "We're proud to be an NMRA-sanctioned racetrack and look forward to hosting this all-Ford event for many years to come!"

MM&FF and the NMRA series was certainly welcomed in Norwalk, Ohio. The track, the locals, the fans, racers, showgoers, and other participants made this stop on the NMRA tour a memorable one. And now it's time to hit the treadmill so we can tear through more ice cream when we return in 2014. See you there!